Israeli troops scuffled with settlers to bulldoze a Jewish outpost in the West Bank yesterday, the first of a handful slated for destruction before Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon visits Washington.
The removal of unauthorized settlements, long demanded by the US under a stalled peace plan, would go some way to please Israel's main ally as Sharon seeks support for a go-it-alone pullout from the Gaza Strip.
PHOTO: EPA
Palestinians dismissed the removal of uninhabited Hazon David as just a public-relations exercise.
Soldiers rushed in before dawn to tear down the outpost near the West Bank city of Hebron.
Settlers repeatedly broke through a police cordon, grappling with troops and trying to obstruct an army bulldozer as it crushed the flimsy synagogue of concrete blocks and canvas.
Its destruction enraged settlers already fuming at the plan by their one-time champion Sharon to uproot Jews from Gaza.
"In our eyes this is the desecration of a holy site. It calls for national mourning," said settler leader Benny Katzover. "We will do everything to rebuild."
Some 240,000 Jewish settlers live in the West Bank and Gaza Strip alongside 3.5 million Palestinians. Settlements are widely seen as illegal by the international community, though Israel disputes this.
Palestinian minister Saeb Erekat dismissed the removal of Hazon David as cosmetic.
"Settlement activity goes on and the war goes on," he said.
Seeking to "disengage" from the Palestinians because of what he calls the absence of a negotiating partner, Sharon has proposed an Israeli pullout from the Gaza Strip and a few pockets of the West Bank.
Palestinians would welcome any withdrawal but fear Israel would strengthen its grip on large chunks of the West Bank and deprive them of a viable state.
Sharon is due to meet US President George W. Bush later this month to seek vital support for the Gaza pullout and is pushing ahead with the plan despite a bribery probe that could bring him down.
Meanwhile, Israeli soldiers killed at least two Palestinians suspected of attempting to attack an army base in the Gaza Strip yesterday, military sources said.
Soldiers opened fire at three men seen crawling towards their base near the Gush Katif settlement bloc in southern Gaza.
POLLS
Hoping to silence internal criticism, 76-year-old Sharon agreed on Tuesday to put his initiative to a binding vote by his right-wing Likud party.
Polls show party members are increasingly willing to part with isolated, hard-to-defend Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip.
Polls published in the Yedioth Ahronoth and Maariv newspapers found that 51 percent of right-wing Likud members supported Sharon's unilateral Gaza Strip withdrawal plan and between 36 and 39 percent opposed it. The rest were undecided.
South Korea’s air force yesterday apologized for a 2021 midair collision involving two fighter jets, a day after auditors said the pilots were taking selfies and filming during the flight and held them responsible for the accident. “We sincerely apologize to the public for the concern caused by the accident that occurred in 2021,” an air force spokesman told a news conference, adding that one of the pilots involved had been suspended from flying duties, received severe disciplinary action and has since left the military. The apology followed a report released on Wednesday by the South Korean Board of Audit and Inspection,
Indonesian police have arrested 13 people after shocking images of alleged abuse against small children at a daycare center went viral, sparking outrage across the nation, officials said on Monday. Police on Friday last week raided Little Aresha, a daycare center in Yogyakarta on Java island, following a report from a former employee. CCTV footage circulating on social media showed children, most younger than two, lying on the floor wearing only diapers, their hands and feet bound with rags. The police have confirmed that the footage is authentic. Police said they also found 20 children crammed into a room just 3m by 3m. “So
About 240 Indians claiming descent from a Biblical tribe landed at Tel Aviv airport on Thursday as part of a government operation to relocate them to Israel. The newcomers passed under a balloon arch in blue and white, the colors of the Israeli flag, as dozens of well-wishers welcomed them with a traditional Jewish song. They were the first “bnei Menashe” (“sons of Manasseh”) to arrive in Israel since the government in November last year announced funding for the immigration of about 6,000 members of the community from the states of Manipur and Mizoram in northeast India. The community claims to descend from
‘TROUBLING’: The firing of Phelan, who was an adviser to a nonprofit that supported the defense of Taiwan, was another example of ‘dysfunction’ under Trump, a US senator said US Secretary of the Navy John Phelan has been fired, a US official and a person familiar with the matter said on Wednesday, in another wartime shakeup at the Pentagon coming just weeks after US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth ousted the Army’s top general. The Pentagon announced his departure in a brief statement, saying he was leaving the administration “effective immediately,” but it did not provide a reason or say whether it was his decision to go. The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Phelan was dismissed in part because he was moving too slowly to implement reforms to
RSS